Category Archives: Neonatal Research

Glucose screening and treatment in the newborn; what now?

Posted on 7 May 2020 by Keith Barrington

This is a field that stagnated in darkness for a while, “But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and science is the sun” (with apologies to Romeo). Recent research has shown that 1. In healthy … Continue reading →

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Let it GLOW… Normal blood sugar profiles in newborn infants.

Posted on 6 May 2020 by Keith Barrington

To stay with this recent “hot topic” of this blog; what low blood sugar threshold should be used for intervention in the neonatal period? The usual risk factors (SGA, LGA, IDM, late preterm, maternal beta-blockers) select a group of babies … Continue reading →

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Not COVID-19. Who is at risk for hypoglycaemia?

Posted on 14 April 2020 by Keith Barrington

In my previous post about hypoglycaemia, I made certain estimates about the proportion of well-appearing term and late preterm babies who would be considered at-risk. Karen Puopolo and her group at the Pennsylvania hospital have just published a study covering … Continue reading →

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Linezolid seems safe for preterms, probably

Posted on 5 March 2020 by Keith Barrington

A few years ago we started having difficulty clearing Coagulase-Negative Staphylococcal (CoNS) sepsis from the blood cultures of some babies in our NICU, children with CoNS also seemed to be sicker, and to more often have thrombocytopenia. It was at … Continue reading →

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What to do about early postnatal steroids?

Posted on 3 March 2020 by Keith Barrington

Steroid metabolism in the very immature infant is… immature. Adrenal function is still developing in the fetus between 20 and 26 weeks, and a source of precursors from the placenta is important, but obviously disappears at delivery. Very preterm babies … Continue reading →

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We are all treaty peoples

Posted on 24 February 2020 by Keith Barrington

We are all treaty peoples if we live in North America! We, at least the “we” who are concerned about such things, have a tendency to think that the treaty people are only the aboriginal descendants of those who had … Continue reading →

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They really are CRAP! C-ReActive Protein: “Hazardous Waste”.

Posted on 17 February 2020 by Keith Barrington

I have railed against the use of C-Reactive Protein, CRP, on this blog previously, it was my analysis that the CRP is sensitive, but with very poor specificity, both for early-onset sepsis, and for late-onset sepsis. A new systematic review … Continue reading →

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What is hypoglycaemia? Part 3. Part of the answer!

Posted on 14 February 2020 by Keith Barrington

The only way that we can find the answer to the question of what threshold blood sugar we should use to treat babies with low blood sugars is a prospective RCT, and Behold! Look! Lo! How say you? (van Kempen … Continue reading →

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What is hypoglycemia? part 2

Posted on 13 February 2020 by Keith Barrington

The new statement from the CPS, and many others, don’t discuss which measurement that we are really interested in, is it blood glucose, or plasma glucose? The different data sources are discussed as if they were all measuring the same … Continue reading →

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What is hypoglycaemia? Part 1.

Posted on 11 February 2020 by Keith Barrington

The Canadian Pediatric Society has just published new guidance for screening and treatment of infants at risk for neonatal hypoglycaemia. The older statement needed to be revised, in particular to include the use of oral glucose gel as an option, … Continue reading →

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